Network environment analysis of a model of carbon flows in a peat bog and fen

Abstract

The wide distribution of peat bogs and the ecological problems made by environmental change makes it important to understand their functioning. This article uses a dynamic mathematical model of the carbon transfers in a mire located in the forest-steppe zone of West Siberia. We apply this approach to a raised bog and to a fen. We use measured values of the amount of carbon in the six compartments of the model, and of the transfer rates among the compartments. A stationary (steady) state is reached after 200 years or so, but the amounts in the compartments then differ quite a lot from those at the start. We consider possible reasons for these differences.

Keywords

• biological turnover
• c-flows and storages
• modelling
• sphagnum bog